Raiders wide receiver Martavis Bryant has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL “for violating the terms of his April 2017 conditional reinstatement under the Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse,” the league said in a statement.

Bryant is currently on injured reserve with a knee injury and becomes an unrestricted free agent after this season.

“Effective immediately, Martavis Bryant has been returned to the Reserve/Commissioner Suspended list indefinitely for violating the terms of his April 2017 conditional reinstatement under the Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse,” the full statement said.

This is the third time Bryant has been suspended for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. He was suspended four games in 2015, then banned for a year without pay in 2016. In 2017 he caused drama with the Steelers by demanding the ball more in an offense that also included the game’s best running back (Le’Veon Bell) and wide receiver (Antonio Brown) at the time.

The Raiders traded a third-round pick for Bryant during April’s draft, but the talented wideout only caught 19 passes for 266 yards and no touchdowns in eight games played. Reports of a possible suspension for Bryant first surfaced in mid-June, but nothing materialized until now. The Raiders didn’t include Bryant on their initial 53-man roster because they again feared a suspension, but re-signed him following Week 1 after he cleared waivers.

“There is a lot of potential there. Potential is a tough word in the football business. He definitely has potential. He has something that a lot of people don’t have,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said of Bryant last week after he was placed on injured reserve. “I think we’ve all seen that, especially in camp. Hitting him on some deep balls, hitting him on some big explosive plays. Even in games that we have played together, hitting on some big plays. There is so much there that you just want to untap and hopefully we’ll get to do that for a lot of years together.”

Now their future together is in serious doubt, as Bryant’s career hits its biggest roadblock yet.

Bryant’s career isn’t officially over, especially at only 26 years old, but he has to wait 10 months before applying for reinstatement with the league. Even then, it’s not guaranteed the NFL permits his return.

Matt Schneidman joined the Bay Area News Group in September 2017 to cover the Oakland Raiders. He graduated from Syracuse University in Spring 2017 and has interned with The Buffalo News, the New York Post and USA TODAY.

All the Chiefs had to do to give QB Patrick Mahomes a chance in overtime was not allow a touchdown. They couldn't do it. That's the fault of their defense. The NFL overtime system is fine the way it is.